


Encore

by Braincoins



Series: Love Song [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/M, Fluff, Language, Modern AU, Thank you Wazy!, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 16:43:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19338499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Braincoins/pseuds/Braincoins
Summary: Allura wants to meet the band; Shiro has...concerns.





	Encore

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lyxan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyxan/gifts).



> Y'all asked for more after reading [Love Song](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16585451), and Wazy-Sama delivered! Well, she delivered unto me the ideas for the sequel and commissioned me to write it. Heap love upon Wazy-Sama for this gift to us all! (And thank you for commissioning me again!)
> 
> Thanks also to [mckinlily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mckinlily/pseuds/mckinlily) for the beta! :D  
> =================

            “You really want to meet them?”

            She laughed. “Why is that such a surprise?”

            They were on her couch, ostensibly watching a movie and eating Chinese takeout. In reality, she was sitting draped across his lap and they were making out. Or they had been until she’d brought up her desire to meet the rest of The Paladins.

            Takashi looked away from her, back to the dragon roaring on the screen. “Well, it’s just… they can be a bit… rowdy.”

            “I can handle myself. I could go to a show, maybe? And meet them afterwards.”

            “I don’t know if…”

            “I can pay for my own ticket; I’m not asking for freebies.” She had money now, after all, a surprising amount. Oh, she wasn’t rich by any means – The Paladins weren’t big time yet – but compared to living off the leftovers from her student loans (and occasional gifts from her dad), she might as well be. She could afford a concert ticket, at any rate.

            “No, it’s not that, of course I’ll get you a ticket,” he said. “I’m just… I have _concerns._ ”

            She pouted at him exaggeratedly. “Are you ashamed of me?” she asked in overdone melancholy.

            “No, them.”

            She laughed and swatted playfully at his shoulder. “Takashi! Those are your bandmates!”

            “And friends,” he agreed. “And I’m still not sure I want you to meet them. Maybe… maybe we could do some one-on-one things, where it won’t be all of them at once… lunch or dinner dates or something.”

            “Takashi.”

            “Don’t bite your lip,” he groaned.

            She knew he was weak to it. She slid one hand from his shoulder down his well-built (and currently still t-shirt-clad) chest. “Takashi?”

            He grabbed her hand before it could get any farther than those six-pack abs. “You’re not seducing me into this either.”

            She batted her eyelashes at him.

            He sighed heavily and she smiled because she knew her victory when she heard it. “Okay, okay. One show and you can meet them afterwards, but I warned you, alright?” He glanced back at the screen and blinked. “Oh, hold on,” he said, reaching for the remote, “we missed a good part.”

            She was of the opinion that no talking dragon was anywhere near as interesting as her boyfriend, who looked every inch the self-absorbed lead guitarist who went through groupies like Kleenex but who was, instead, a sweet, kind-hearted, actually kind of shy dork who played World of Warcraft on Tuesday nights and D&D on Thursdays, bought advance tickets to every geek movie that came out, and sent her Panera deliveries when he knew she was working on her thesis because she’d never eat otherwise.

            But Takashi wanted to show her the talking dragon, and so she cuddled in against him and paid attention. She’d won their little battle just now; she could be gracious in triumph.

 

 

            She got there early. It wasn’t a large venue, but it was a very popular downtown club, and usually hard to get into on a weekend night. But she was dating the lead guitarist (even if he introduced her as a songwriter), and that got her into the club as well as a good seat at the end of the bar: close enough to the stage for a good view, but far enough away so she wouldn’t be deafened. The club owner even came out to make sure she was satisfied; she had to say so several times and convince him that no, really, she didn’t need anything else, she was fine. He seemed a nervous little man, always straightening this or adjusting that – it was like he had eight arms or something – and muttering under his breath about what would happen if everything wasn’t perfect. She was glad to see him finally rush off to shriek at the bartender about not putting the pretzels in the exact right spot.

            The club filled up, the lights went down, and a loud, piercing shriek drowned out the guy announcing The Paladins. _Apparently the fangirls all showed up,_ she thought in amusement. Her eyes sought out Takashi – no, he was Shiro right now. Their eyes met briefly, and he smiled at her. She felt warm, getting this kind of special attention, but no one else seemed to notice.

            Most of the fans were focused on the lead singer – of course – or the bassist, who seemed intent on charming everyone out there. He tossed out winks, smirks, and finger guns; Allura thought she saw someone in the crowd actually faint.

            She expected some chatter, some banter, a greeting, at least, from the lead singer. But instead he grabbed the mic, yelled, “LET’S GO, PALADINS!” and they started the first song. _I guess we are, theoretically, here for the music_. And the crowd didn’t seem to mind; they roared in appreciation as the first song started.

            She felt even warmer when she realized it was one of the songs she’d “co-written,” lyrics taken from her 13-year-old self’s overactive romantic imagination. This wasn’t one of the fantasy ones though, just straight up pining. The chorus wasn’t hers, so ‘Shiro’ must have written it himself, and it pulled her scattered thoughts together, gave them structure.

            “This is one of my favorites,” she heard a fan say to her friend.

            Allura felt honored and, also, like she wanted to sink into the floor and hide forever. Junior high school poetry shouldn’t be aired to the world, especially when it was about a juvenile crush! But that juvenile crush was her current boyfriend and airing her old poetry to the world meant she could have food other than ramen.

            Not all their songs were taken from the notebook, but the ones that were still made her feel self-conscious. She kept it together fairly well, she thought, as the concert progressed. She couldn’t help mouthing some of the lyrics, the ones she remembered writing when she was deep in the throes of her first love. _My ‘first love’ was basically a fictional character that I superimposed onto Takashi_. But then he’d said as much to her, too. She supposed it was universal, or nearly so, given how well the fans responded to it all.

            But “Love is an Adventure” still got to her. That was the first song she’d heard of theirs, the one that had made her realize what had happened, that had reunited her with Takashi (and gotten her royalties). They ended the show with it and she couldn’t tear her eyes from her boyfriend – it still amazed her to think of him like that – through the whole thing.

            The song ended, the show ended, but the spell didn’t break until the curtain closed and the lights came up a bit more. She shook her head and turned back to the bar to order another drink. She’d wait right here until, she assumed, Shiro came to get her (bringing the bandmembers out into the throng of fans was probably not a wise idea).

            But it wasn’t Shiro – or Takashi – who came out to fetch her. “Hey, you’re Allura?” asked the harried-looking woman with short hair and a headset.

            “Yes, I am.”

            “I’m the stage manager; come with me.”

            “Oh, uh… right.” She grabbed her purse and hopped off the bar stool. “I’m sorry, I was expecting Shiro to…”

            “Band’s busy right now, but I was told you can wait backstage ‘til they’re done.”

            “Oh, okay.” She supposed there were things to see to right after a show.

            The stage manager took her back and indicated a chair at a makeup station. “Stay there, don’t wander off.” And just like that, she was gone.

            Allura frowned and looked around. Everyone was busy, and she didn’t really want to get in the way, so she sat down and watched. She could barely make out the darkened stage from here; people were carting off microphones and pieces of the drum set. She didn’t recognize anyone.

            “Well, _hello_ ,” said a strange voice from behind her. She stood and turned to see the bassist grinning at her.

            “Oh, hello!” she replied pleasantly. “I…”

            “Am so lucky to be back here, yeah, I know,” he said. “I saw you out there in the crowd while we were playing and let me tell you, you are the most gorgeous creature out there tonight.”

            She cleared her throat. “Thank you, but…”

            “No, no, it’s true! And believe me, I should know. I consider myself something of a connoisseur of beauty, female _and_ male.”

            “Okay…?” She wasn’t really sure what to say to that.

            “And obviously you already know who I am, but you can just call me Lance. And what’s your name, lovely?” He grinned at her.

            She cleared her throat. _I was trying to tell you that earlier._ “My name is Allura F-…”

            That snapped him out of his smirking and rather silly attempts at bedroom eyes. “Wait fuck no, _the_ Allura?”

            She hadn’t expected that. “Uh… maybe?”

            “Like as in Allura Shirogane?”

            She couldn’t help blushing as he referenced the notebook. _How many times did I write that in there?_ “That’s not actually…”

            “HUNK! KEITH! PIDGE!”

            “Um.” She glanced around and saw the other band members hurrying over. _Well, I **did** want to meet them…_

            “You’re supposed to be _working_ , Lance, not _flirting_ ,” the drummer protested.

            “I’m too gay for manual labor.” He tossed his hair, even though it wasn’t in his face.

            “I thought you were bi?”

            “You’re flirting with a _chick_ ,” the short keyboardist put in as if to remind him.

            “Shut up. THIS IS ALLURA SHIROGANE.”

            They all stared at her. “Shut the front door,” the keyboardist said in an awed whisper.

            She smiled uneasily, not really sure where to begin.

            “Oh, you found them!” That was Takashi’s voice. _My hero!_ “Or they found you, maybe.”

            “More the latter,” she admitted.

            “Shiro, she’s a _real person_?!” Lance asked him.

            “They thought I wasn’t real?” she asked incredulously.

            Takashi didn’t answer her, choosing instead to protest, “I told you she was real!”

            “Yeah, but why would we believe you?” the keyboardist asked. “You made her sound like some sort of angel-goddess.”

            He blushed. “I wouldn’t… that’s a bit much…”

            “You totally did!” Lance insisted. “And I see why now.”

            She blushed and cleared her throat. “It’s nice to be able to meet you all finally.”

            “Uh, right, introductions.” Takashi took a calming breath. “This is our drummer, Hunk.”

            “Hi, nice to meet you!” he said, all smiles as he held his hand out for a shake.

            She reached her hand out to return it. “Likewise.”

            “Did you like the show?”

            “Oh, very much,” she said.

            “You should come more often. Oh! Do you play D&D? You should come on Thursdays! Plenty of food, don’t worry about that, and I think we can have you meet the party at our next stop…”

            “Hunk,” Takashi protested.

            “Sorry.” Hunk settled down, but he looked like he was about to burst with friendly questions, like a puppy who badly needed to be let out.

            Her boyfriend went right on with introductions. “Pidge is on keyboards.”

            “Pidge?” she asked, to make sure she was getting it right.

            “Nickname,” the keyboardist replied. “Call me Katie and you die. Nice hair, by the way.”

            “Oh, thank you, and duly noted.”

            “Keith’s the lead singer,” he just nodded as Takashi introduced him, “and I get the feeling you met Lance.”

            “Lance has a way of introducing himself to beautiful women,” Pidge pointed out.

            “Yes, he does,” Allura commented.

            Lance seemed to take that as a compliment.

            “We can talk more later; we have to finish packing up. All of us,” and Takashi was very pointedly including Lance in that statement.

            “Right, right.” He huffed and followed Hunk back towards their equipment.

            Takashi leaned in and gave her temple a quick kiss. “Hang in there; we’ll try not to take too long.” He jogged off after them.

            She was about to sit down again when she noticed Keith was still there. “Yes?”

            He glanced in the direction the rest of the band had gone, then leaned towards her a little so he could drop his voice to ask, “Are you some sort of mermaid?”

            She blinked and nearly fell into the chair. “I’m sorry, what?”

            “Or a siren? That’s the proper term, isn’t it? It’s okay, you can tell me.”

            “Why would you think I’m a mermaid?” she asked with a laugh.

            “Because you _enraptured_ Shiro. You cast some sort of spell on him.”

            “No, I…”

            “It’s okay, I get it. You gotta keep up the charade. But I’m just saying, you can trust me. I met Mothman.”

            “You met Mothman?”

            “Well, I’m pretty sure I did. Like 99% sure. So…”

            “KEITH!” Takashi’s voice yelled.

            “Gotta go.” He put his fingers to his lips once, nodded at her, and ran off.

            She sat there and tried to process all of that. She wasn’t even sure how much time passed until she saw Takashi walking back over to her.

            “ASK HER HOW SHE WALKS ON LAND!” Keith’s voice called after him.

            He sighed and shook his head as he approached. “Do you understand now? Do you get why I was a little hesitant?”

            She laughed. “They’re… colorful.”

            “They’re crazy. All of them.”

            “But they’re your friends and your D&D party and your band.”

            He nodded. “Yeah. I am kind of stuck with them.”

            She stood and poked him in the side. “You love them.”

            He batted her hand away. “Of course. Though not the same way I…” He turned red and cleared his throat. “Well, anyway, dinner? You have your choice: dinner with me or dinner with all five of us.”

            She smiled. “I’d like to have dinner with everyone.”

            “You’re sure about that?”

            She nodded. “Absolutely. And,” she helped herself to his arm, “ _after_ dinner… when it’s just the two of us…”

            “Hm?” he asked, eyebrows rising and a smirk beginning on his lips.

            “I… might have a little something for you.”

            “Oh? Do I get a hint or is it a surprise?”

            “You clearly think you know,” she observed as they headed for the back door.

            “Am I wrong?”

            “A little.”

            “A little? Okay, so now we’re back to the ‘do I get a hint?’ question.”

            “I… might have written something. For you.”

            He blinked. “Did you… write me more song lyrics?”

            “Maaaaaaaaybe. In the interest of continuing to get royalties, of course.”

            “Of course.”

            “And to make sure The Paladins don’t run out of love songs anytime soon.”

            “So it’s another love poem, is it?”

            She nodded. “You told me that my notebook was what love _should_ be, but maybe not what it is.” She looked up at him. “And I think that sometimes… sometimes they can be the same thing. With the right partner.” She smiled and squeezed his hand.

            He smiled back. “Maybe so.” He bent to kiss her, on the lips this time, soft and sweet.

            …until there was a honking from outside the open door and Hunk’s voice calling, “WE’RE HUNGRY, SHIRO! HURRY UP!” followed by Lance yelling, “YEAH, YOU TWO CAN MAKEOUT LATER!”

            Allura couldn’t help laughing against Takashi’s lips.

            “You wanted to meet them,” he reminded her.

            “I regret nothing.”

            “Well, that makes one of us.” And then, without warning, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. “Come on, mermaids don’t walk!”

            “I KNEW IT!” Keith declared.

            She laughed all the way to the van.


End file.
